Hashtag Jily
by Chiera
Summary: Twitter seemed awash with the hashtag Jily. Lily blinked at in confusion, until she realised it was one of those silly couple monikers people had bestowed on her and Potter. …Though there was a small dissenting crowd following a tweet from Potter's bandmate Sirius Black: Jily? Hah! More like LAMES.


**Chie:** A stand alone sequel to my earlier one shot "Arm Candy" (chapter five in my _Anthology of James and Lily_ collection). Written for the Jily trope fest on Tumblr.

* * *

The steady ringing of her phone was what woke Lily up a little past ten on a Monday morning. Probably work, was the first waking thought flashing through her mind. She had graduated university barely a year ago, but she had quickly learned that the more inconvenient the timing, the more likely it'd be her agent Mary giving her a ring. She groaned and blindly groped at the nightstand until finally, her fingers curled around the phone.

"Hello?" she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep, her eyelids still heavy.

"Hi Lily, how are you?"

The male voice at the other end of the line nudged Lily's brain more awake. This was not Mary; this was not work. She blinked blearily, finally prying her eyes open and wincing at the brightness of her room.

"Well, right now I'm feeling tired. You know, had a late night."

"Oh. Right. Of course. I didn't wake you, did I?"

"You did, actually, but it's fine. How are you holding up?"

His answer came in the form of a fit of horrid hacking coughs. Lily grimaced, pulling the phone back from her ear, until she heard him speak. "Sorry," he wheezed breathlessly. "I think you can guess for yourself based on that. Anyway, I just wanted to check up on you. I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night."

Lily snorted.

"Remus. You should worry about yourself. You must be feeling bloody terrible when you even sound like crap."

"I've been better," he admitted wryly. "How was last night?"

"It was trying, but I managed not to strangle Potter."

"That's great. I admit I was a little worried about how you'd get along."

"Honestly, it was fun. I was not happy at first, but Potter turned out to be a decent date and I actually enjoyed myself."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I hadn't seen him since our graduation and, well... it was weird at first. He's this big rock star now and yet at times he seemed almost humble." Lily paused, shaking her head. "It was hard to reconcile that with the Potter I remember. He was so obnoxiously arrogant back in uni; I really thought all the success would have gone into his head and made it even bigger, but it hasn't. He seems – different."

"I've been trying to tell you that for a while now," Remus said, his voice kind. "Half of all that swagger was from him being a spoiled brat, and the rest was a bluff, typical teenage bravado. But we've been working really hard since we left uni. He's grown up this past year. I think we all have."

"Seems like it, yeah… though I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself."

"Fair enough."

She could hear the smile in his voice, and felt her own lips quirk up in response.

"Listen, Remus… It was really sweet of you to give me a ring but I think you should go and rest."

"I think you're right," he replied ruefully. "Promise me you'll tell me all about it at a better time."

"I promise. Now go and get better!"

"Yes ma'am."

The call disconnected and Lily put her phone down, a small smile still playing on her lips. She stretched and ran her fingers through her hair before climbing out of bed and trotting into the shower.

* * *

She felt more awake and refreshed ten minutes later, after spending some quality time with the warm water. Her next stop was the kitchen, where she put the kettle on. She went to grab her phone and sat at the kitchen table, gazing out into the overcast spring day. Then, she turned her attention towards breakfast and a mug of steaming tea. Lily had decided to keep it light; her body still hadn't fully recovered from partying until the wee hours of the morning. She had not even been planning to attend any kind of an after party following the award ceremony, but somehow Potter had managed to talk her into it.

She shook her head, though a fond smile fleetingly touched her lips.

While eating her breakfast, Lily checked the morning's headlines on her phone. Though she had predicted it last night, she still choked on her muesli when she found a mention of her and Potter among the showbiz headlines of The Sun.

 _Rocker Hunk Spotted On Red Carpet – Lead figure and vocalist of the new and hot_ Marauders _, James Potter, was seen last night at an award gala hosted by The Royal Theatrical Society. The first time he has been caught out in public in female company, Potter appeared to be accompanying the musical actress Lily Evans, who received an award for the best actress in a supporting role for her role in –_

Lily quickly backed out of the article and put the phone down, her cheeks aflame.

Oh God. It was actually happening. She had known right from the start that there would be rumours, even before she had stepped out onto that red carpet and fixed a smile on her face for the eagerly flashing cameras… And yet it hadn't fully sunk in until now, when she saw it in black and white, the speculation of her and Potter's relationship spreading out into the world. Everyone out there would be drawing their own conclusions – mostly wrong ones, at that. Potter had been her date and she had enjoyed his company, but there wasn't anything going on between them, despite his running joke of asking her out back in their uni days.

The mere thought of all this publicity was making her head spin. Lily wasn't used to being in the spotlight; she was still new to the industry and though she had landed good roles, was gaining recognition, and had her fans and following, as a musical actress she was more of a niche celebrity. She didn't enter people's lives the way many others did – her face was not on the telly, her voice was not on the radio. She could walk down the streets without people recognising her, and she preferred it that way. Much as she loved to perform, she didn't want to remain under the scrutiny of the public eye once she was offstage.

But now her name was out there, spreading into the consciousness of the general public, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that… Though she was certain Mary would be over the moon. Perhaps that had been her secret hope all along, when she'd insisted Lily shouldn't attend the award ceremony alone. Though even Mary couldn't have imagined that Lily would appear on the red carpet with rockstar Potter on her arm – _Lily_ wouldn't have believed it herself if someone had told her twenty-four hours earlier.

Lily cradled her mug in her hands, trusting the familiar routine of the traditional morning tea to calm the tightening coil of panic in the pit of her stomach. A host of _if only_ s chased one another in her mind, but what was done was done. There was no time machine to take her back to convince Mary she could go to the gala alone or to help prevent Remus from falling ill. Besides, she was overthinking it, one appearance on the red carpet wouldn't be enough to make her a household name, no matter whom she had brought as her date. There would be an article or two about their date and some speculation about their relationship – and then public interest would shift onto someone else, and she and James would be forgotten.

Feeling better and glowing with warmth from the tea, Lily picked up her phone again. It was then, finally, that she noticed the notifications. _Oh._

Oh no.

Hazy recollections stirred, of Potter showing her a picture he'd tweeted of her up on the stage accepting her award, of selfies with them grinning like loons – even one where she'd been kissing his cheek – which they had taken and posted on Instagram in the giggly buzz following two and a half glasses of champagne.

Sure it had felt like a good idea at the time, but facing reality the morning after, Lily soon realised she had underestimated the power of social media.

The internet was a scary place, the way some things just caught collective interest and went viral, spreading like some highly infectious disease across different websites and platforms as people shared them over and over. It also became apparent that James and the _Marauders_ had a very impressive fanbase. None of her pictures on Instagram had ever got so many likes and comments as the ones she had posted with James last night. On every account she owned, Lily found her inbox snowed in, and on Twitter there seemed to be a tidal wave of the hashtag _Jily_ – something Lily had blinked at in confusion, until it had finally dawned on her that she and Potter had already been bestowed one of those silly couple monikers. …Though there was a small dissenting crowd following a tweet from Potter's bandmate Sirius Black: _Jily? Hah! More like LAMES_.

Lily resolutely set her phone aside and took a deep breath. She got up to refill her mug and put the kettle back on. She'd need a lot more tea.

* * *

All day, compelled by morbid curiosity, Lily kept glancing at the on-going and ever-spreading internet commentary. Many of Potter's fans seemed to be wondering who she was, and finally he had felt compelled to answer the repeated queries: _Lily's a wonderfully talented actress and my friend from uni_. Friend, Lily snorted as she read the tweet. After last night and the fun they'd had together, she was inclined to agree, but back in university they had been more like rivals; two clashing egos constantly butting heads. Honestly, she had half-expected him to add fuel to the fire and milk the misunderstandings for all they were worth, but so far he'd shown remarkable restraint – further proof that he had indeed grown up.

Not all of the members of _Marauders_ showed as much tact, though, as the comment section of one of Lily's Instagram pictures from last night – the cheek kiss one – became the stage for a bitter argument between Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black about money owed due to a bet lost.

A few fangirls were already expressing their heartbreak, and some of the comments Lily had received throughout the day had been downright hateful. But that could hardly be avoided on the internet, where the safety blanket of anonymity helped to sharpen the tongue of even the most timid person.

But she kept the kettle on and the tea running, and thanks to that she never descended into panic, even though she felt overwhelmed every time _#jily_ flickered in her vision.

She also kept waiting for Mary to ring her, and spent most of the day on tip-toe, certain that any moment now her phone would go off – but to her surprise, it never did.

Instead, Mary showed up on her doorstep sometime after six, happy as a clam and a bottle of wine in hand.

"It's marvellous, Lily, absolutely marvellous," she enthused, pushing into the flat before Lily even had a chance to invite her in. "The phone's been ringing off the hook!"

To Lily, that didn't exactly sound like marvellous news, and she felt a flutter of trepidation as she followed Mary into the kitchen. She paused in the doorway, watching as Mary rummaged through her cupboards in search of wine glasses.

"You should've warned me, Lily, It would've been nice to have some kind of heads-up. James Potter!" Mary shook her head, finally locating the glasses and putting them on the counter. "I had no problem with you and Remus Lupin making an appearance together, but James Potter is another ballpark! As the vocalist and leader he's the most visible and best known member of the band after all."

"I'm sorry, but the change of plans was rather abrupt. I was fully expecting to go with Remus until Potter showed up." Which was the truth – though in hindsight she could've sent a message to Mary after Potter had made his appearance, to keep her in the loop.

"Well, no matter," Mary shrugged as she opened the bottle and started pouring the wine. "All kinds of magazines have been calling. Asking about your and James Potter's relationship, looking for confirmation, that sort of a thing. Though there've been interview requests too."

Mary sashayed over with the wine glasses and Lily sat down at the kitchen table.

"So," she said brightly as she took the seat opposite Lily's, "tell me about your relationship with James Potter."

"There isn't much of one," Lily shrugged. "I know him from uni and until yesterday I thought him to be a conceited arse but he seems to have grown up to be a decent bloke."

"Only decent?" Mary hummed, one eyebrow inching up. "I saw the pictures you took last night, you seemed close."

" _Seemed_ is the keyword," Lily muttered, taking a good long sip of wine. "We were just horsing around. Everyone's probably assuming us to be a couple, but truthfully we're barely even friends."

"For now," Mary grinned. Lily rolled her eyes. "Though speaking about friends, I heard James Potter's bandmates had made a bet about whether you and James would go on a date."

"Black and Pettigrew were arguing about it, it's probably all over internet by now."

"What I'm curious about is why they'd have made such a bet in the first place, if your and Potter's relationship wasn't that good."

"Probably because of Potter's little running joke. He used to ask me out. More than once."

"Asking someone out is hardly a joking matter," Mary frowned.

"To Potter, everything was a joke."

"Oh well." Mary downed the rest of her wine and set the empty glass aside. "Let's get to work then, shall we?"

* * *

Three days and one interview later, the whole brouhaha was showing no signs of dying out. On twitter, _#jily_ was still making regular rounds and the _Marauders_ ' fanbase didn't seem to be tiring. People who three days prior had never heard of Lily were posting her pictures on their blogs. The photographs from the red carpet had showed up on a few different magazines now, both online and off, and by being shared and reposted, had spread onto various other websites. Likewise, screenshots of Potter and his bandmates' various tweets as well as of Lily's Instagram pictures were circulating on social media, gathering heaps of likes and shares. And though a part of her still felt a bit uneasy with all this sudden interest in her, Lily had to admit it was amusing to see what rumours the internet managed to cook up.

So far, both she and Potter had neither confirmed nor denied anything, so the speculations about their relationship still ran rampant. Lily would've been happy to set the record straight, but Mary had thought it better for publicity to keep people guessing for a while longer. Still, why Potter wasn't making the most of it and calling her his girlfriend, she wasn't sure – but at the back of her mind she carried a budding hope that it was because he'd changed, not because his manager had forbidden him to.

Since Lily had turned off all her notifications to spare herself from being flooded, the messages had been sitting on her phone for maybe half an hour before she noticed them.

 **Ahoy Evans** , the first one read.

 **Got your number from Remus, hope you don't mind** , the second one continued.

Lily blinked at them for a while, before quickly typing a reply: _…Potter?_

 **Yup** , came the immediate answer.

 **Thought we should discuss our battle plan**

 _Battle plan?_ Lily asked, frowning at her phone.

 **Yeah. How to reply to all these rumours**

Lily shook her head, her fingers tapping furiously at the keys. _I'm not sure if we even should reply. Haven't we already been scandalous enough?_

 **Evans there were no trashed hotel rooms**

 **Or getting caught in compromising positions**

 **Our partying was tame**

The corners of Lily's lips twitched. _Guess so. No sex or drugs, only rock'n'roll._

 **And champagne**

 _Lots of champagne :D_

Lily paused, realising two things simultaneously: that she was smiling at her phone screen and that she had just sent an emoticon to James Potter.

Her phone beeped, informing her of a new message: **So what should we tell people**

Lily stared at the text. What _should_ they tell people? She wasn't sure. Until recently, Potter had been an arrogant toerag; now she didn't know what to think.

A quick flutter stirred in the pit of her stomach, and she suddenly remembered standing there on the red carpet with Potter's arm casually around her shoulders. She remembered the crooked grin on his lips, his hazel eyes twinkling with mischief from behind his spectacles. She remembered how contagious his excitement had been, how much she had laughed that night.

 _I guess_ , she typed with fumbling fingers, _we could tell them we don't know_

 **Would they believe that**

 _Why not, it's pretty much the truth?_

Lily bit her lip, her fingers hovering over the screen in hesitation, before she added: _We have history, but this thing is very new to us so we're not sure what's ahead._

The seconds slowed as she waited for his reply, her heart beating quickly in her chest. After what felt like forever, it finally came.

 **Is that statement for media's benefit or mine**

Lily swallowed.

… _Both?_

 **Careful Evans. You're making it sound like I have a chance**

 _Well maybe you do._

 _Now that you've deflated your head a bit_ , she couldn't help adding.

 **Pity it took me four years**

The flutter returned again. Lily felt giddy and nervous at the same time, and she was smiling as she wrote her reply:

 _Better late than never._

* * *

 ** _The End._**


End file.
